Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mvitorino 3907 days ago
I could point to the 20.000 years of human history and challenge you to find the opposite: a single completely flat organisation/enterprise with more than one individual, that for a non trivial amount of time exhibited progress, growth and financial success. I can't think of one.
1 comments
paulojreis 3907 days ago
Challenge me, to come up with something, why? You were the one doing the assertion, so you should be prepared to be challenged and answer, not challenging back.

You said that a given notion/idea is against human nature; the burden of proof is yours. Do you have any scientific support for that claim? What definition of "human nature" are you following? Even relating to the very limited historical accounts you were trying to assess, how can you be sure it's "human nature", not "human culture"?

I'm sure you're thorough and rigorous in your field of expertise, and don't accept "claims" blindly. I'm just asking for the same standards in other subjects. No need to be frivolous just because the subject is human behaviour.

link
mvitorino 3907 days ago
I was expressing my opinion, as it should be clear from my comment and the challenge to find a counter-example to my argument is called proof by contradiction.
link
paulojreis 3907 days ago
There's nothing in your statement "it is against human nature" that would imply that it was just an expression of your opinion. You stated it as clearly as possible, yet you have no basis for this. It's very sad to see the standards drop so low when the discussion regards human behaviour; it borders on religious faith. People believe X regarding human behaviour in the same way other people believe in baby jesus.

> the challenge to find a counter-example to my argument is called proof by contradiction.

I don't think "proof by contradiction" means what you are "expecting", really. Look it up. You'll see why and how fallible it would be as a method for human and social sciences.

link
mvitorino 3907 days ago
How about the start of my sentence: "Absolutely agree". Would that imply it is an expression of my opinion, in your view?

Standards? I think you are being a bit too hard on yourself and us. These are just comments on a web forum.

link